For anyone that has been paying attention, certain members from the women's national soccer team have made millions of Americans aware of the inequality between pay in men and women's soccer. This past week, the U.S Women's National Team gained another piece to their puzzle in Washington, when the Senate approved a resolution that aimed to end gender pay inequity and treat all athletes with respect and dignity to the U.S Soccer Federation.
The resolution was introduced by Sen. Patty Murray and 21 other Democrats early May, and was furthered with five members of the USWNT filed the complaint along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They wanted to investigate whether or not the American governing body was paying athletes equally. From this complaint, they found that women athletes were earning 25 percent less than the U.S Men's National Team.
Member of the Senate, Murray made it well aware of all of the USWNT's success, including winning their third world cup title in July and the previous three Olympic gold medals. He states,
“But despite all of these tremendous successes, these players do not get paid on par with their male counterparts.”
“This isn’t just about the money. It’s also about the message it sends to women and girls across our country and the world. The pay gap between the men and women’s national soccer teams is emblematic of what is happening all across our country.”
Murray was also joined by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) stating that we need to "stop kicking these women athletes around"
This resolution only applies to the public's pressure on soccer supporters, but it passed without objection, which will hopefully provide further support form officials. Murray and Mikulski hope this result will reflect later down the road when introducing equal pay for American women through the Paycheck Fairness Act.
“I am extremely proud that my Senate colleagues have adopted this resolution — these are great words of support for women across the country” Murray states, “Now, let’s back it up with action by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act! I am going to keep fighting for this legislation, so I urge all my colleagues to put partisanship aside, once again, and work to get this done.”
In conclusion, equal pay for women athletes is only fair, and there are no better women to represent this fight than the USWNT, coming off of a world cup victory. This is a step in the right direction, and they still have a lot of legislation that still needs to be covered!
